A question for MO - do people from England understand people from Scotland?

[Teggy]

I know they're very nearby and all, but...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le_uNGdpa4c

[metallicorphan]

LOL,Jeremy Kyle!!



Absolutely not(or at least i can't understand them),i can understand some Scottish people,but that video...nope,not a chance

Take that Scottish guy in the Far Cry 3 Co-Op campaign,i can understand him just about

In the 80s there was a famous comic show Rab C Nesbitt,which pretty much touched the same subject...FWIW i can understand Rab C Nesbitt a bit more than those two on The Jeremy Kyle Show...but not by much

[The Grue]

I can understand the two in that show pretty well, but I'm American.  I find that I have a decent ability to understand anyone speaking English, no matter the accent, though.

[Ironrod]

My ear usually adjusts to accents after a short time, but that woman's patter was barely recognizable as English. For comparison, I started watching Attack the Block with subtitles turned on, but turned them off after the first half hour.

[metallicorphan]

My ear usually adjusts to accents after a short time, but that woman's patter was barely recognizable as English. For comparison, I started watching Attack the Block with subtitles turned on, but turned them off after the first half hour.

I have not seen that,is that southerners?(Satherners),as in London(Landan)

[Ironrod]

My ear usually adjusts to accents after a short time, but that woman's patter was barely recognizable as English. For comparison, I started watching Attack the Block with subtitles turned on, but turned them off after the first half hour.

I have not seen that,is that southerners?(Satherners),as in London(Landan)

Yeah, low-class city kids. I don't know what you call that particular accent but they have it really thick. Between the accents and the low class youth slang, it was very hard to follow at first. (Pretty decent monster movie, btw -- mindless but fun).

[kronovan]

My ear usually adjusts to accents after a short time, but that woman's patter was barely recognizable as English. For comparison, I started watching Attack the Block with subtitles turned on, but turned them off after the first half hour.

I have not seen that,is that southerners?(Satherners),as in London(Landan)

Yeah, low-class city kids. I don't know what you call that particular accent but they have it really thick. Between the accents and the low class youth slang, it was very hard to follow at first. (Pretty decent monster movie, btw -- mindless but fun).

I personally don't think the accent of those kids in that film was too hard to follow though. At least everyone I watched that movie with didn't have any problems following it without subtitles.

As to the video link in the OP - It isn't the accent of that Scottish women I find difficult, but that she's using a heap of local slang and idioms. Any American of Canadian that spoke with that much local flavor would be about as hard to understand. I know of very rural places in BC where anyone here would probably need a translator to understand them. Personally, the only English accent I've had porblems with (including people for which English isn't their 1st language) is the rural, southern New Zealander accent. Man do I ever have to pay attention when I listen to them!

[Purge]

I could understand her well enough - I found people on springer just about as hard to understand ... or why Ricki Lake even had her own show...

OTOH, I found the english in Sexy Beast thick enough to turn on subtitles(specifically his friend who's talking about the colour of the pool water near the beginning) - same with Snatch, though Pitt's character was speaking Cockney which is deliberately obtuse.

FWIW, I can understand Neufy, lard tunderin jaysis.

[CeeKay]

I know they're very nearby and all, but...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le_uNGdpa4c

 

[Rumpy]

My ear usually adjusts to accents after a short time, but that woman's patter was barely recognizable as English. For comparison, I started watching Attack the Block with subtitles turned on, but turned them off after the first half hour.

I have not seen that,is that southerners?(Satherners),as in London(Landan)

Yeah, low-class city kids. I don't know what you call that particular accent but they have it really thick. Between the accents and the low class youth slang, it was very hard to follow at first. (Pretty decent monster movie, btw -- mindless but fun).

I personally don't think the accent of those kids in that film was too hard to follow though. At least everyone I watched that movie with didn't have any problems following it without subtitles.

As to the video link in the OP - It isn't the accent of that Scottish women I find difficult, but that she's using a heap of local slang and idioms. Any American of Canadian that spoke with that much local flavor would be about as hard to understand. I know of very rural places in BC where anyone here would probably need a translator to understand them. Personally, the only English accent I've had porblems with (including people for which English isn't their 1st language) is the rural, southern New Zealander accent. Man do I ever have to pay attention when I listen to them!

Yeah, anytime everyday language becomes filled with local slang, it becomes harder to understand for people outside that circle. Quebec is another good example of this. They have their own unique slang, and while I am French Canadian, I have a hard time understanding what they're saying because I'm not familiar with the local flavour. I try to listen to a cousin in Montreal and I'm like, what? And then it becomes even harder due to the cadence of their speech. It's a combination of that coming from the woman. She's speaking so quickly that words are slurred onto the next.

[GargoyleBoy]

I could understand her well enough - I found people on springer just about as hard to understand ... or why Ricki Lake even had her own show...

OTOH, I found the english in Sexy Beast thick enough to turn on subtitles(specifically his friend who's talking about the colour of the pool water near the beginning) - same with Snatch, though Pitt's character was speaking Cockney which is deliberately obtuse.

FWIW, I can understand Neufy, lard tunderin jaysis.

Brad Pitt's character was speaking Pikey - which is Irish Gypsy.  Best part of the movie.

For a good example of Cockney, refer to the movie "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels".

[Purge]

I could understand her well enough - I found people on springer just about as hard to understand ... or why Ricki Lake even had her own show...

OTOH, I found the english in Sexy Beast thick enough to turn on subtitles(specifically his friend who's talking about the colour of the pool water near the beginning) - same with Snatch, though Pitt's character was speaking Cockney which is deliberately obtuse.

FWIW, I can understand Neufy, lard tunderin jaysis.

Brad Pitt's character was speaking Pikey - which is Irish Gypsy.  Best part of the movie.

For a good example of Cockney, refer to the movie "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels".

I stand corrected - it felt wrong typing it - thanks for validating that, though a simple search reveals "Pikey" to be a slur, and should probably be referred to as "traveler speak".

I recall reading about cockney, where rhyming word substitution was deliberate due to not being caught talking about criminal activities in the open - this is the "deliberate" I was referring to.

(or so I understand it - I am by no means an expert on the variants of English)

[GargoyleBoy]

"Pikey" is what they call it in the subtitles menu on the disk. 

As for Cockney being deliberately obtuse... there's Cockney, which is a dialect or accent, and Cockney Rhyming Slang, which is a "thieves' cant"-like system of codes.

Cockney is the accent used throughout Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking barrels - though the rhyming slang they employ further obfuscates everything.

[Purge]

"Pikey" is what they call it in the subtitles menu on the disk. 

As for Cockney being deliberately obtuse... there's Cockney, which is a dialect or accent, and Cockney Rhyming Slang, which is a "thieves' cant"-like system of codes.

Cockney is the accent used throughout Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking barrels - though the rhyming slang they employ further obfuscates everything.

... and people use the term gypped too ... doesn't mean it isn't a slur.

Canuck is also a slur ... we Canadians just have thick skins, and have taken it away from those who'd use it to make fun of us.  

[Isgrimnur]

When you name a hockey team that, it does kinda take the sting out.

[metallicorphan]

Ha i loved Brad Pitt in Snatch,as Gargoyleboy says i think the DVD edition of the film treated the subtitles just for Pitt's character as a special feature,i don't think any subtitles appear for anyone else when they are playing

It's been a while since watching that film,i am not sure what appears when you have the normal subtitles on

[Reemul]

I'm from the south coast and my dad is from Newcastle, all his family have a Geordie accent ( he lost his when he joined the Marines) and I cannot understand a lot of what they say but mainly due to the speed and slang.

[metallicorphan]

I'm from the south coast and my dad is from Newcastle, all his family have a Geordie accent ( he lost his when he joined the Marines) and I cannot understand a lot of what they say but mainly due to the speed and slang.

I was talking to a friend and i said "Ta" and she didn't know what i meant,for me "Ta" is a slang word for Thanks or Thank you(not sure if it is used outside of Britain)

Just to make sure i wasn't making it up,i looked it up on the internet(and i was curious where i got the word from as well),and i found this for Newcastle people

North-East of England (especially Newcastle and Tyneside)

"Gann'n doon toon" - "Going into town"
"Aye" - "Yes"
"Canny" usually means "good" or "clever" though, used in the sense "Gaa canny", it means "be careful"
"Divvent" - "don't"
"Give o'er" - "Stop doing that"
"Howay!" - "Come on!"
"Gadgie" - "Old man"
"Charva" or "radgie" - known elsewhere in the UK as scally, pikey or chav.  An undesirable.
The word 'man' is used as an expressive tool in phrases and doesn't normally imply gender, and is commonly used when speaking to both sexes (e.g. Howay, man or Divvent dee that, man).
"Chore" or "Chaw" in MIddlesbrough - a friend; used by men, not ladies.

and for the original post,the page also had a few for Scottish,some of it is way over my head

Some Scots words in common use that you may hear are;

ay = yes (pronouced like English word eye)
naw = no
aye = always
no = not
ken (ya ken) = know (you know)
burn = stream or brook
hauf = half (usually means a single measure of whisky)
drookit = soaked
drooth = dry (thirsty)
stane dyke = stone wall
bairns / weans (predominantly used in west) = children
kirk = church

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g186216-s604/United-Kingdom:Important.Phrases.html




Not sure if you guys had the same dialogue,but this all reminds me of Final Fantasy IX in the village of Conde Petie

[Reemul]

Yeah all that is just spot on, howay the lads is cheering for the local football team Newcastle United, means come on Newcastle or along those lines.

[Teggy]

I'm from the south coast and my dad is from Newcastle, all his family have a Geordie accent ( he lost his when he joined the Marines) and I cannot understand a lot of what they say but mainly due to the speed and slang.

I was talking to a friend and i said "Ta" and she didn't know what i meant,for me "Ta" is a slang word for Thanks or Thank you(not sure if it is used outside of Britain)

I learned this from listening to Ned's Atomic Dustbin (the band, not the show). I learned some of the Scottish stuff when I read Trainspotting - the whole book is written phonetically.